International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies E-ISSN2249–8974

Review Article
DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SURFACE AREA ACTIVATED
CARBON FROM WASTE MATERIAL
B. S. Patil, K. S. Kulkarni

Address for Correspondence

Chemical Engineering Department, BVDUCOE, Pune, Maharashtra.
ABSTRACT
Review article on preparation of high surface area activated carbon This paper provides an overview on the methodologies
for AC (activated carbon) synthesis Activated carbons with high specific surface area and pore volumes can be prepared
from a variety of carbonaceous materials such as coal, coconut shell, wood, agricultural wastes or industrial wastes by
physical and chemical activation method. Chemical activation gives higher carbon yield than physical activation. The
highest surface area AC prepared from pistachio shells is 3895m2/g of BET surface area.
INTRODUCTION carbonization of a carbonaceous materials followed
Activated carbon (AC) is an adsorbent produced from by activation of the resulting char in the presence of
a variety of carbonaceous source materials. Having activating agents such as CO2 or steam. The chemical
high surface area and porosity, it is used as an activation usually Takes place at a temperature lower
adsorbent for removal of organic compounds from air than that used in physical activation, therefore it can
and water streams. They are also used as catalysts improve the pore development in the carbon structure
and catalyst supports in the catalytic processes. because the effect of chemicals. The carbon yields of
Therefore, high surface area and porosity are very chemical activation are higher than physical one
important for AC quality because the removal of (Ahmadpour and Do, 1997).
large amounts of chemical compounds from gas or LITERATURE SURVEY
liquid streams on ACs. H. Dolas et al.[3]has studied the Activated carbons
The qualities and characteristics of ACs depend not having high surface area were produced from
only on the physical and chemical properties of the pistachio shells and effect of salt on surface area the
initial material but also on the activation methods hard shell was crushed into big pieces that were
used. Agricultural by-products are considered as chemically activated using zinc chloride at room
very important feedstock as they are renewable and temperature and then activated in carbon dioxide gas
low-cost materials .Activated carbon is a well-known that was saturated in water vapor. It was found that
material with complex pore structure, large specific the activated carbon produced from pistachio. Shells
surface area, good chemical stability, and various treated 40% of sodium chloride and activated at
oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface. 900 ◦C for 90 min has 3895m2/g of BET surface area
These excellent features have made it widely used in and 5235m2/g of DR surface area and 1.86 cc/g of
environmental protection, water and wastewater DR micropore volume. ZnCl2, sodium hydroxide
treatment, gas filters, and so forth Mesoporous (NaOH), hydrochloride acid (HCl) and salt (NaCl)
activated carbon can be prepared by many methods. were used for chemical activation.
Traditional methods include chemical activation, However obtained ACs was carried out
physical activation, and a combination of the physical instrumentally. Its adsorption characterizations were
and chemical activation processes [1, 2]. determined by nitrogen adsorption at −196◦C with
raw material used for AC synthesis are wood, surface area and pore size analyzer (NOVA 4000e-
sawdust, lignite, peat, coal, coconut shells, and Quanta chrome instruments). Their surface areas
petroleum residues hardwood, coconut, bamboo, peat were calculated from the isotherms by the Brunauer–
moss, or olive pits. A challenge in activated carbon Emmett–Teller (BET) equation their micropore
production is to produce very specific carbons with a volumes were calculated by using Dubinin–
given pore size distribution from low cost materials Radushkevich (DR) equation [20]. The ACs from
at low temperature. Activated carbons with high 10% ZnCl2 more micropores are available in its
specific surface area and pore volumes can be structure solution had more surface area than the
prepared from a variety of carbonaceous materials others. While the amount of ZnCl2 was increased,
such as coal, coconut shell, wood, agricultural wastes there is a decreasing of micropore volume (at range
or industrial wastes. Because of the high cost and of 0.01–0.96 nm) it is seen that BET surface and
non-renewable source of commercially available AC, micropore volumes of ACs were decreased by
in recent years, researchers have studied production decreased carbonization temperature. But mesopore
of ACs from cheap and renewable precursors, such as formation was limitedly promoted by temperature
olive husk, coffee endocarp, cotton stalks, plum decreasing. Because of the ZnCl2 concentration was
kernels, fir wood, pistachio shell, olive stone, increased, the radius of formed pore did not increase
bamboo and flamboyant pods. but the volume and the surface area of pores
In industrial practice, coal and coconut shell are two increased.
main sources for the production of activated carbons. However, Hourieh et al. [4] studied the effect of
There are two processes for preparation of activated ZnCl2 concentration on the properties of AC using a
carbon: chemical activation and physical activation. raw material like pistachio-nut shell. In this study,
Chemical activation is known as a single step method ACs were produced from pistachio shells which were
of preparation of activated carbon in the presence of chemically activated by using ZnCl2 and then
chemical agents. Physical activation involves physically activated by carbon dioxide passed

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue II/January-March, 2012/109-113

 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies
through water. r. As a result, ACs with the higher
surface area were produced from pistachio shells
prepared under the condition of 40% salt solution
impregnation and then activated at 900 ◦C for 90 min.
As a result, the activated carbon produced from
pistachio shells treating
eating with 40% ZnCl2 then with
40% HCl in room temperature and then activated at
900 ◦C for 90 min has 3256m2/g of BET surface area
and 3822m2/g of DR surface area and 1.36 cc/g of
DR micropore volume. It was found that the activated
carbon produced from pistachio shells treated 40% of
sodium chloride and activated at 900◦C ◦C for 90 min
has 3895m2/g of BET surface area and 5235m2/g of
DR surface area and 1.86 cc/g of DR micropore
volume.
It can be said that ACs prepared from pistachio shells
may be used for both gaseous and liquid adsorption
applications depending on the different activation
conditions.
K. Yang et al.[5]] study the utilization of coconut shell
to prepare activated carbon using agents such as
steam, CO2 and a mixture of steam-CO steam 2 with
microwave heating. Coconut shell is the most popular
and industrially widely adopted precursor for
preparation of activated carbon. This has studied in
order to compare the porous structure and yield of
activated carbon. A two-stage
stage activation process with
carbonization at 1000 _C under N2 atmosphere with
conventional heating followed by activation at 900
_C with microwave heating has been utilized for
preparation of activated carbon. Coconut shells
Carbonization was performed in a horizontal tube
furnace by electricc heating and coconut shells were
placed inside a stainless steel reactor. The coconut
shells were heated up to a carbonization temperature
of 1000_C at a heating rate of 10_C/min with
conventional heating and were held for 2 h at the
carbonization temperature ture under N2 gas flow
(100cm3/min).
The activation experiments were carried out in a self-
self
made microwave tubular furnace, which has a single-
single
mode continuous controllable power. Experimental
series were conducted employing the flowing
conditions,
A) Steam activation (1.35 g/min): to assess the effect
of activation time at 900 _C;
Both vacuum condition and base-leaching leaching are
beneficial to the specific surface area, pore volume,
and mesoporosity of activated carbon. After treated
with NaOH, the ash content in herb residues reduced
while the volatile content increased.
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2012/
E-ISSN
ISSN2249–8974
B) CO2 activation (600 cm3/min): to assess the effect
of activation time at 900 _C;
steam mixture activation (600 cm3/min +
C) CO2-steam
1.35 g/min): to assess the effect of activation time at
900 _C. selected sets of experiments were repeated to
ensure the reproducibility of experimental data
BET surface area of activated carbons irrespective of
the activation agent resulted in surface area in excess
of 2000m2/g. The activation time usi using microwave
heating is very much shorter, while the yield of the
activated carbon compares well with the conventional
heating methods. The activated carbon prepared
using CO2 activation has the largest BET surface
area, however the activation time is apprapproximately
2.5 times higher than the activation using steam or
mixture of steam-CO2.
J. Yang, K. Qiu [6] derive the study of Activated
carbons with high surface area, large pore volume,
and high mesoporosity were prepared from herb
residues. Preparing activated carbon from herb
residues can be divided into two stages, including
base-leaching
leaching and activation. The raw material was
treated by 0.5M NaOH solution samples were
maintained
at room temperature for 48 h and then evaporated to
dryness at 105◦C ◦C and activated under vacuum to a
system pressure of 20 kPa using ZnCl2 as the
activation agent. Four activated carbons obtained
under different preparation conditions were compared
in detail. It was found that both the vacuum condition
and base-leaching
leaching process have positive effects on
the specific surface area and mesopore structure
characteristics.
The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller Teller (BET) surface area
and total pore volume of the activated carbon
obtained by combining vacuum condition and base base-
leaching method have increased by 125.3% and
64.9% respectively With an activation temperature of
450 ◦C and an impregnation ratio of 2. 2.5, activated
carbon with a BET surface area of 1952m2/g, a total
pore volume of 1.479cm3/g, and a meso porosity of
98.0% was obtained. ZnCl2 chemical activation is
one of the most effective and least expensive
activation methods for mesoporous activated ca carbon
production
The products were characterized by N2 adsorption,
thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA), and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). The preparation method
proposed in this study is an effective way to oobtain
mesoporous activated carbons with high specific
surface area.
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies
A.L. Cazetta et al [7]] study the preparation of
activated carbon from coconut shell with NaOH
chemical reagent dried at 110 ◦C for 48 h,
h ground and
granulometrically separated the raw material,
mate which
had particle size between 250 _m and 425 _m, room
temperature to 500◦C, ◦C, and maintained at this
temperature for 2.0 h. The obtained char was mixed
It was found that the ACs are essentially microporous
and that the BET surface area was in order of 783 m2
g−1 for AC-1, 1842 m2 g−1 for AC-2, 2, and 2825 m2
g−1 for AC-3 NaOH-ACs ACs obtained from coconut
shell presented good development and high BET
surface area ACs. ACs are essentially microporous
and that BET surface area of 2825 m2g−1 was
obtained for AC-3 has acid characteristics and
carboxylic groups, phenolic lic groups and pyrone
groups in its structure. This characteristic observes by
FTIR analysis.
A.W.M. Ip et al. [8] prepare High surface area
activated carbons from the natural biomaterial
bamboo, using phosphoric acid as the activating
agent. The effects of phosphoric acid impregnation
ratio, activation temperature, heating rate on the
carbon surface area, porosity and mass yield y are
presented. Activated carbons have been prepared
using bamboo cane as a precursor and the properties
.Three of these bamboo derived active carbons,
surface areas 1337, 1628 and 2123 m2/g. g.
The following parameters were varied:
(i) Acid to bamboo ratio (1, 2, 4, 6).
(ii) Heating rate (1 and 5 _C/min).
(iii) Activation temperature (600 _C and 900 _C).
Sample name, T600/R1/X2, means that the activated
carbon was produced at 600 _C with a heating rate of
1 _C/min and with an acid to bamboo ratio of 4. It
show that Impregnation ratio seems to have the
largest effect on the shape of N2 adsorption isotherm
Other. For carbon producing at 600 _C, decreasing
the heating rate can increase the surface area.. In the
present study using phosphoric acid, most surfacesur
areas were greater than 1000 to over
2000 m2/g with mass recovery yields of 35–47% 35
w/w. an activation time of 4 h and a heating rate of 1
_C per minute, which produced the highest surface
area carbon of 2123 m2/g.
biomaterials converted into active carbonsrbons include;
sugar beet pulp activated with carbon dioxide with
surface areas 200– 1300 m2/g (Mudoga et al., [9]); [ Following table shows derived result.
palm shell activated with potassium carbonate with
surface areas 248–1170 m2/g (Adinata et al., [10]) [
and rice bran activated with sulphuric
sulphuri acid with
surface areas 200–700 m2/g (Suzuki et al., [11]). [
These BET values are lower than the bamboo
activated carbons produced in the present study.
There are very few references in the literature
referring to bamboo derived activated carbons despite
the encouraging results reported in the present paper.
Previous work reporting surface area values only for
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ISSN2249–8974
with varying amounts of NaOH pellets and 10 mL of
water, at the ratios of 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1 (NaOH
(NaOH: char)
in a vertical stainless steel reactor under magnetic
stirring for 2 h and then dried at 130 ◦C for 4 h the
and observe the result as increase in the impregnation
ratio (NaOH:char) caused a decrease in the yield
values. And the result derived from is as follows
bamboo carbons, include surface area values around
400–500 m2/g (Mizuta et al., [12]), ]), steam activation
produced values of 1038 m2/g (Wu [1 [13]) and 2996
m2/g (Wang [14]).
Heating rate, impregnation ratio and activation
temperature are all sensitive conditions for the
surface area development. Increasing the
impregnation ratio can increase the surface area
initially and then decrease the surface area. For
carbon production with a heating rate of 5 _C/ min,
increasing activation temperature can increase the
surface area when the impregnation used is less than
4. The most outstanding carbon was prepared using
an impregnation ratio of 2, an activation temtemperature
of 600 _C.
Y. Sudaryanto et al.[15]] author has study the
preparation of High surface area activated carbon
cassava peel by chemical activation.
Cassava peel is an agricultural waste from the food
and starch processing industries. In this study, th this
solid waste was used as the precursor for activated
carbon preparation. The preparation process
consisted of potassium hydroxide (KOH
(KOH) as chemical
activating agent
Impregnation at different impregnation ratio followed
by carbonization at 450–7500C for 11–3 h. pore
characteristic of carbon changes significantly with
impregnation ratio and carbonization temperature.
The maximum surface area and pore volume were
obtained at impregnation ratio 5:2 an and carbonization
temperature 7500C highest area obtain is fro from 1378-
1605 m2/g BET surface area.
The yield of the activated carbon at carbonization
temperatures more than 650 0C are less than fixed
carbon in initial precursor since the potassium
hydroxide is a strong base, it catalyzes the oxidation
reactions. This paper study the effect of carbonization
time, carbonization temp Carbonization temperature
and impregnation ratio give significant effect in the
pore characteristic of activated carbons produced.
R.-L. Tseng et al. [16] this paper study the the
preparation of high surface area activated from
carbonized corncobs (i.e.,
i.e., char) with KOH etching
plus CO2 gasification in this work. corncob is a cheap
and abundant agricultural al waste of no economical
value. In addition, corncob-derived
derived ACs have been
proven to be highly porous and rich in mesopores,
exhibiting high adsorption capacity. Activated chars
were prepared from corncob by carbonization in
nitrogen.
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies
High surface area micropore activated carbon of BET
surface area of 2595m2 g−1 and Smicro/Sp ratio of
0.899 was obtained from corncob activated with
KOH [17]. Furthermore, CO2 will be utilized to
develop ACs of high surface area and higher ratio
mesopore for wider applications in this study. In this
work comparisons were made for the
physicochemical properties of the corncob carbon
activated by KOH followed by CO2 gasification for
different time duration. In this paper BET surface
area (1991m2/g) of the activated carbon with
KOH/char ratio equal to 1 plus 60 min of CO2
gasification is approximately equal to that (1976m2/g)
with KOH/char ratio equal to 3 without CO2
gasification [17].
SEM observations revealed that the corncob-derived
activated carbons of the group with KOH/char equal
ratio to 1 were highly porous with honeycomb
shaped, cottony holes, which were transformed into
plain surfaces after being gasified with CO2 for 60
min. When the CO2 gasification time of the group
with KOH/char ratio equal to 1 was increased from 0
to 60 min, their micropore ratios decreased rapidly
from 0.805 to 0.565 and their BET surface areas
rapidly increased from 1071 to 1991 m2g−1; Sp
values of all ACs gradually increase with increased
gasification time. The BET surface area (2844m2/g)
of cob4030 is one of the highest among the activated
carbons prepared from the plant materials found so
far. Less chemical dose is required for the preparation
of higher surface activated carbons.
D. Huang et al. [18] in this paper, a new method,
combining impregnation and vapor-hydrolysis (IVH
method), would be developed to fabricate hybrid
photocatalyst: N–TiO2 coated AC (N–TiO2/AC) with
high SSA. Activated carbon (AC) is well known as
one efficient support, due to its stability, mechanical
resistance, high surface area and optimum porosity.
Usually TiO2 is loaded on AC by CVD and sol–gel
method [19, 20]
The activated carbon (AC) was impregnated into
titanium tetraethoxide/urea/methanol solution, and
then the impregnated AC powder was kept in water
vapor at 90 °C for 3 h for hydrolysis. Then it was
calcinated to fabricate N–TiO2/AC.
TTED was dissolved in absolute methanol, and the
AC was added to the solution with stirring. After 15
min, diluted HCl solution was added, followed by the
addition of urea solution (25 wt.%) under vigorous
stirring. After 3 h, the water and methanol were
vaporized at about 60°C. Then the powder was
calcined at 400 °C for 3 h to prepare N–TiO2/AC
with 8 wt.% N–TiO2
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when 8.3 wt.% N–TiO2 was loaded on the AC, the
hybrid photocatalyst had high surface area up to 1321
m2/g The crystal structure and particle size were
characterized by Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM).
CONCLUSION
In this paper from overall study it observe that
Activated carbon with high surface area can be
prepared from natural material and industrial waste
by physical and chemical activation and it give high
surface area nearly equal to commercial AC or it can
be further modified to get highest surface area even
more than commercial AC. Heating rate,
impregnation ratio and activation temperature are all
sensitive conditions for the surface area development.
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